The sweet violet, Viola odorata, may be a diminutive flower, but its small, slightly asymmetrical, pansy-like flowers are highly fragrant. They open in early spring before most plants have even though

As well as being a visual feast, a garden can become a fragrant haven, says Heloise Brooke, head gardener at the National Trust’s Calke Abbey in Derbyshire. Here, she advises on plants to include for year-round perfume promise

Modest, alluring and versatile, Viola odorata, or sweet violet, is a small, hardy, herbaceous perennial that tumbles and scrambles close to the ground, forming dense clumps of dainty, heart-shaped, gr

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In the garden, hellebores and snowdrop bulbs are emerging through the wintry ground, while beyond, in borrowed views, dangling catkins and blossom-laden blackthorn branches sway in the hedgerows. Thes

Picotee-pink-edged, large flowers that look at you from a tall stem. Followed by marbled evergreen leaves. A sterile cultivar from Rodney Davey, it flowers prolifically as its energy is saved for flow